"Each of the 25 or so movements from Handel's
Messiah that I have re-arranged is treated in a different way," Ayres
explains. "Sometimes there are changes to metre and rhythm,
and sometimes the harmony or text has undergone a transformation.
Some movements have had their essential elements distilled into
a few moments' intensity, and some musical ideas have been expanded
and developed along startlingly tangential lines." Asked
whether this amounts to a 'PDQ Handel' send-up of one of classical
music's most iconic works, he disagrees: "Messyah has been
written because I have such a great love for Handel's music -
not because I want to ridicule it.

Certainly, there may be a few comic moments,
but equally there are some thoughtful and considered responses
to the text. Every performance of the Messiah is different - the
sound of Sir Thomas Beecham's 1957 recording is worlds away from
William Christie's of 1994, for example - and I would just say
that Messyah is 'differenter' than most." Ayres is now assistant
organist at St George's Church Hanover Square, where Handel himself
was a parishioner and churchwarden. His choral, vocal and theatre
music has been commissioned and performed around the world, and
in 2005 The Stolen Moon was shortlisted for the British Composer
Awards.

Early Music Today magazine praises "the
excellent Queldryk Chamber Choir" and its "ravishing
choral support".

“…commanding technique resulted in performances of
total clarity and precision”
Sevenoaks Chronicle, April 2000

“a player of outstanding talent and authority”
Hexham Courant, May 2000

Paul
Ayres was born in London in 1970 and read music at Oxford University
as organ scholar of Merton College. He graduated with a first-class
honours degree in 1991, at the same time obtaining the FRCO diploma,
winning the Turpin/Durrant, Harding and Samuel Baker prizes.
He now works as a freelance organist, composer and choral conductor,
and is Assistant Director of Music at St George’s Church,
Hanover Square, London.

His
first solo CD, “Passacaglia”, on the Fand Music
Label (which has been broadcast on the radio in Australia,
South Africa, USA and Hungary) was enthusiastically received:

“The Buxtehude and Bach
pieces are given mature and yet energetic performances, whilst
the Lloyd Webber and Koomans have so much vitality and bounce
to them that they are quite addictive. On this his debut solo
organ disc Paul Ayres shows himself to be a player of the highest
calibre…” Simon FitzGerald, The Organ,
August 1998

“Paul Ayres’s attractively
constructed programme… playing is never less than assured…” Stephen
Haylett, BBC Music Magazine November 1998

“This is an imaginative
record, by a fine player on a fine instrument…the playing
is splendid!” Organists’ Review,
November 1998

“…an interesting
programme, well played with great energy” Church
Music Quarterly, January 1999

“Paul Ayres shows
excellent technique and stylistic awareness throughout… a
CD exploring the organ and some new music with great enthusiasm
and flair.” Basil Ramsey, Music and Vision
(daily internet music magazine) May 1999